Do you mean to tell me that DEMAND is the largest influence on market share?? Who would have thought? God forbid the government know anything you could learn in Economics 101.
I'm a female engineer and a member of the Society of Women Engineers where I get exposed to a lot of the outreach and networking activities going on to encourage young women to get interested in science and to retain female engineers already in the workforce. From my POV, I see the possible causes of this downturn as:
1. Outsourcing/The Economy: Fewer students are pursuing degress in engineering and computer science because there aren't jobs for them when they graduate. Women are not blind to the writing on the wall and can apply their skills elsewhere.
2. Industry Environment: Businesses, especially tech businesses, function on processes and rules based on how men think and operate. Most of those businesses are not receptive to new ideas and changes to the way they operate. Also, when the economy takes a plunge like it is now, diversity programs are usually some of the the first to be cut.
3. Work/Life Balance: Women who choose to have a family will always struggle with the stressful demands of many IT and engineering jobs. Even a few weeks of maternity leave can put you way behind in your career, much less taking more time off to stay at home with kids. The industry is not set up to allow women to handle that kind of time off and still be competitive for raises and promotions.
4. Individual discrimination: Despite #2 and #3, the biggest threat to women in engineering is not instititionalized sexism, but individuals who make it difficult to thrive in an engineering job on a daily basis. If I had a nickel for every time one of my coworkers talled me "sweetie" or "darlin'" or compared me to and treated me like their daughter instead of their colleague (I AM their daughters' age, but come on guys, a little respect please!), I would have quite a large pile of nickels.:-P
5. Outreach programs targeted exclusively at girls in college are implemented TOO LATE: If you don't get them interested in math and science by the 5th grade, there's little chance that they're going to change their minds later. By the time students get into high school and college, they already have a general idea of what they're going to do. Since I'm involved in SWE, I have a direct impact on changing this trend, and we do a lot of work with our local Girl Scouts and other K-12 outreach organizations as well as networking with college students for retention purposes.
That's my $0.02. Right now the biggest factor for me personally is #1: how can I encourage girls to go into science and engineering fields when outsourcing makes my own job security a myth? I'm considering going back to school for a graduate degree in medical device engineering because I don't forsee my job in computer design sticking around for much longer...
You forgot one: "Will I NEVER have my husband to myself?!? Damn you, Blizzard, and your brilliant, endless marketing schemes that keep your revenue in the $Hundreds-of-Millions/month!!!"
1. McCain will not be 4 more years of Bush. He is more liberal than Bush ever was. 2. Obama will be 4 more years of Jimmy Carter, and we all know how well that went...
Uh, they'd be starting at 0 if they thought year 25 made him 24 years old... D'oh, math! I see further down in the comments that it was meant to be a joke, probably since us techie types tend to start counting at 0. Apparently it just confused people;-)
It was only a one day sale/upgrade. As a matter of fact, I bought one yesterday;) I plan on tossing Vista and installing XP as soon as it reaches my doorstep.
Dell is not the only company that oursources their customer service to other countries. Just wait, HP will do the same if they haven't started the wheels turning on it yet...
"Nonsense. This will do nothing to prevent terrorism."
Like I said, I didn't say they were effective...
"No. It's about creating an illusion of security, to mask a power grab."
I was commenting on the above poster's focus on immigration which is irrelevant to this argument.
You seem to think that the founding documents of the United States are a list of things humans are allowed to do. You need to read them again."
I was actually saying exactly that: the documents of the United States do not apply to all people and all "things humans are allowed to do." Maybe you need to read my post again...too many misconceptions!:-P
The laws were put into effect to keep those who would like to destroy our freedoms out. This isn't about keeping out immigrants, it's about security. The fact that we have freedoms doesn't mean that we don't have the right to make regulations on who does and doesn't enter our country. There's nothing that says they have the *right* to come here: it's a privilege, not a right.
I'm not saying the rules are effective, just clarifying why they were put in place....
Slashdot Mirror
Do you mean to tell me that DEMAND is the largest influence on market share?? Who would have thought? God forbid the government know anything you could learn in Economics 101.
I'm a female engineer and a member of the Society of Women Engineers where I get exposed to a lot of the outreach and networking activities going on to encourage young women to get interested in science and to retain female engineers already in the workforce. From my POV, I see the possible causes of this downturn as: :-P
1. Outsourcing/The Economy: Fewer students are pursuing degress in engineering and computer science because there aren't jobs for them when they graduate. Women are not blind to the writing on the wall and can apply their skills elsewhere.
2. Industry Environment: Businesses, especially tech businesses, function on processes and rules based on how men think and operate. Most of those businesses are not receptive to new ideas and changes to the way they operate. Also, when the economy takes a plunge like it is now, diversity programs are usually some of the the first to be cut.
3. Work/Life Balance: Women who choose to have a family will always struggle with the stressful demands of many IT and engineering jobs. Even a few weeks of maternity leave can put you way behind in your career, much less taking more time off to stay at home with kids. The industry is not set up to allow women to handle that kind of time off and still be competitive for raises and promotions.
4. Individual discrimination: Despite #2 and #3, the biggest threat to women in engineering is not instititionalized sexism, but individuals who make it difficult to thrive in an engineering job on a daily basis. If I had a nickel for every time one of my coworkers talled me "sweetie" or "darlin'" or compared me to and treated me like their daughter instead of their colleague (I AM their daughters' age, but come on guys, a little respect please!), I would have quite a large pile of nickels.
5. Outreach programs targeted exclusively at girls in college are implemented TOO LATE: If you don't get them interested in math and science by the 5th grade, there's little chance that they're going to change their minds later. By the time students get into high school and college, they already have a general idea of what they're going to do. Since I'm involved in SWE, I have a direct impact on changing this trend, and we do a lot of work with our local Girl Scouts and other K-12 outreach organizations as well as networking with college students for retention purposes.
That's my $0.02. Right now the biggest factor for me personally is #1: how can I encourage girls to go into science and engineering fields when outsourcing makes my own job security a myth? I'm considering going back to school for a graduate degree in medical device engineering because I don't forsee my job in computer design sticking around for much longer...
You forgot one: "Will I NEVER have my husband to myself?!? Damn you, Blizzard, and your brilliant, endless marketing schemes that keep your revenue in the $Hundreds-of-Millions/month!!!"
1. McCain will not be 4 more years of Bush. He is more liberal than Bush ever was.
2. Obama will be 4 more years of Jimmy Carter, and we all know how well that went...
Uh, they'd be starting at 0 if they thought year 25 made him 24 years old... D'oh, math! I see further down in the comments that it was meant to be a joke, probably since us techie types tend to start counting at 0. Apparently it just confused people ;-)
24 or 25? C'mon, the headline and body of the post should at least match. ;-)
This thread was about how Dell's prices change so quickly. I was confirming that observation. Which point did I miss?
It was only a one day sale/upgrade. As a matter of fact, I bought one yesterday ;) I plan on tossing Vista and installing XP as soon as it reaches my doorstep.
*shrugs* That's how service levels work. They are not a Dell-specific practice by any means...
Dell is not the only company that oursources their customer service to other countries. Just wait, HP will do the same if they haven't started the wheels turning on it yet...
Kudos to you for recognizing that Dell is not the only company that outsources their customer service.
You have the metabolism of a squirrel! *jealous*
"Nonsense. This will do nothing to prevent terrorism."
:-P
Like I said, I didn't say they were effective...
"No. It's about creating an illusion of security, to mask a power grab."
I was commenting on the above poster's focus on immigration which is irrelevant to this argument.
You seem to think that the founding documents of the United States are a list of things humans are allowed to do. You need to read them again."
I was actually saying exactly that: the documents of the United States do not apply to all people and all "things humans are allowed to do." Maybe you need to read my post again...too many misconceptions!
The laws were put into effect to keep those who would like to destroy our freedoms out. This isn't about keeping out immigrants, it's about security. The fact that we have freedoms doesn't mean that we don't have the right to make regulations on who does and doesn't enter our country. There's nothing that says they have the *right* to come here: it's a privilege, not a right.
I'm not saying the rules are effective, just clarifying why they were put in place....